Field-cam, Farmer Tending Sheep 00:32-00:42 Painting

I am delighted to have been elected as an Academician at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol. Since gaining a BA: (Hons) Fine Art Painting degree from UAL: Wimbledon in 2009, my work continues to be mainly drawing based, focusing on the process of 'mapping'. I'm particularly interested in exploring what transpires when something as clinical and exact as measurement, is exposed to chance and random interference. In order to do this, I employ automatic drawing machines to reinterpret the GPS data of hikers, tracing their journeys through the landscape and creating drawings as evidence of the process. By adopting, in part, a 'Heath Robinson' approach in their assembly, I can challenge the notion of the infallibility of machines which hopefully enables the resulting work to escape the confines of its initial deterministic methodology and achieve the unexpected. I also work collaboratively with the artist Sara Dudman and a farm in the Blackdown Hills, exploring and attempting to capture the working relationship between the farmer, the sheep and the dogs. By using webcam footage and GPS data recorded from the movement of the flock, multi layered paintings, drawings and limited edition prints are created from hand-made and machine-made marks. More information about this collaboration can be found at www.dudmanandlocke.com